1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of automated testing, and particularly to the field of automated testing of functionally complex systems such as communication environments.
2. Discussion of the State of the Art
Testing of functionally complex systems typically involves set of activities such as test planning, system analysis, creation of test cases, execution of test cycles, and final testing. Particularly in the field of software testing, testing activities typically occur before a system is implemented into a target environment. The goal of system testing is to determine if a system meets the requirements that guided its design and development, works as expected, and can be implemented in a target environment with the desired functionality. More often than not, after a system is tested and put into a target environment, the system does not, again, undergo a complete functional test to ensure continued system stability. Instead, any future testing typically focuses on individual system components or functional segments that have caused a fault or are in the process of being upgraded.
Many commercial software applications have become large and extremely complex, and in turn, their inherit complexity has adversely impacted the testing process. In these cases, a functionally complex system that is not sufficiently tested often behaves differently in the target environment than in the test environment, resulting in unexpected performance, and complex systems as a result often do not meet the stated objectives. Furthermore, system failures can often occur as a result of failures that were undetected during insufficient testing, causing a partial or total loss of service. In a business setting, this situation often has a financial impact to the business in that it can decrease revenues (for example, resulting from a loss of service to customers, and thus lost sales or sales opportunity), increase expenses (for example, time and cost spent to repair the fault in the system), and adversely affect customer service (for example, by not providing a robust and professional service to customers).
In order to predict the expected behavior of functionally complex systems, a more complete, robust, and continuous testing scenario is needed for systems that are functionally complex. As such, in a business environment, a system that operates as expected can be used to commercial advantage by enabling a business to always have service available to customers, avoid lost customers, and increase a business' confidence in knowing that their system can handle variable conditions whilst maintaining integrity and up-time in the operating environment.